


The Prank Caller

by punkstagram



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: Character Death, M/M, Murder, Murder Mystery, Night Terrors
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-05-17
Updated: 2013-05-30
Packaged: 2017-12-12 03:15:21
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 6
Words: 7,557
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/806553
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/punkstagram/pseuds/punkstagram
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Niall’s phone rings, the somewhat annoying ringtone making everyone jump. Niall picks up his iPhone, and greets with a happy hello.”Hello, is this Niall Horan?” the man asks on the other end. “Yep, what did you need?” “I was just wondering how Zayn was going?” Niall frowned. He looked over to where Zayn was sitting, on his phone and not looking bothered at all. “He’s fine…?” “Not for long.”</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. "Just a Feeling"

**Author's Note:**

> This whole story was based on a prompt I found on the Internet, but I can't seem to find it any more. Oh well, but just know that I didn't think of this idea by myself. And I wrote this awhile ago, probably the start of this year so it's not as good as my latest works. And I don't own One Direction and the events in this story are all a work of fiction.

Niall was sitting on the dressing room chair, letting the stylists fuss over him. Soon they’ll be gone, and Niall will have some time to himself. He’ll have about ten minutes to get himself ready for this evenings show. He was on tour with the boys, this was only the first show. Niall was glad he was here, but he has this gut feeling that something was about to go wrong.  
“Okay, we’re all done!” my stylist, Lou, cheered happily. It takes her a long time to complete her work, but it is almost always worth it. Lou moved out of the way, flicking her platinum blond hair in triumph. She moved to the side to let Niall look at his reflection.

His make-up had already been done, leaving the Irish boy’s face flawless. Niall smiled at the mirror, the girls had done a good job, as always. He turned to Lou, and smiled brightly.

“Thank you Lou! You’ve done a great job!” He said, but worry was evident in his voice. Niall was never one for hiding things. Lou smiled warily, she thought that Niall was just nervous for the first performance of the tour. Which Niall was, but not in the way any one would expect.

Without another sound, Louise left to go find the next boy’s dressing room. 

Niall was glad to finally be alone with his thoughts. Since they had got here, he had been cooped up with he other boys. Not that he didn’t like them, but privacy was hard to come by. Niall closed his eyes, thinking of taking a small nap until he was called up. He was very tired.

Niall is normally known as the ‘carefree’ one, but of course he has another side. He can be quiet on his own. His thoughts take him over, and he become the thoughtful one. Niall thinks about a lot of things, as one does. But one feeling has gotten him confused. No, nothing bad should happen. The boys have done this so often, what was so bad about this show? Or maybe it wasn’t even the show. It could be the whole tour, something could stop them from completing it. Or it could be something small. Niall hoped it would be something tiny, barely even affecting the boys. But he knew it wouldn’t be. The feeling was too strong.

Niall suddenly felt lonely. He guessed that since he had spent so much time with the boys, he was beginning to miss their company. He knew that Lou would be done by now, it had been awhile and Niall was normally the last to be dealt with. He didn’t mind though.

Niall stood up, hearing the satisfying pop of his stiff bones. He walks into the main corridor, already hearing the screams and cheers of the fans waiting in the stadium. By now the starting acts must be finished, all that’s left is the boys to perform. Really, they should be on by now. But they’re not. Nobody has told them, so the boys don’t think it’s time to go on yet. Not very organised, this bunch, Niall thinks. But secretly he doesn’t mind.

He reaches Zayn’s room. Of course he went to Zayn, they were very good friends. Niall thinks he is the closest with him than anybody else. They both enjoy each other’s company. Niall knocks on the door, but doesn’t wait for an answer. He just barges in, without a care in the world. Except for that stubborn feeling. Niall just wants it to go away, so he can cherish the time with his friends.

“Hey Niall,” Zayn says, looking in his mirror. He was not that conceited, as the fans thought he was. He wasn’t at all vain, just a little insecure. Niall doesn’t know why though, he has pondered it so many times. Zayn turns to look at Niall. He smiles, and stands up. “Time to go out already?”

“Nah,” Niall drawls. “We’ve still got at least ten minutes. But I think we should be out there, the opening act have already-” Niall was cut off by the familiar sound of his phone. “Uh…” he hesitates.

“Sure, pick it up,” Zayn willingly says, going back to his mirror. Niall reaches into his pocket for his mobile phone. He looks at the caller ID, private number. At this time Niall is beginning to get suspicious. What if this was the bad thing? What if this call…

“Niall, aren’t you going to pick up the phone?” Zayn looks at Niall. Zayn thinks that Niall has been acting strangely this whole day, but has not had a chance to ask him about it. Of course he wanted to, he cared about his best mate. But other things had stopped him from doing so. Like Louis. And his problem. 

Niall was deep in conversation with the caller. The caller was being smart, cracking wise jokes and ultimately pissing off Niall. He was getting frustrated and loosing his cool. Just to some crank call. 

“I thought you were the care-free one, Niall?” the caller said in mock sadness. “Why are you getting so angry at me?” Niall was at a loss for words. He was seething with anger. He didn’t know why, but he really wanted to punch the boy on the line. The caller laughed evilly, causing Niall to absolutely lose it.

“Fuck off.”

Niall slammed his finger on the end call button, wondering why he hadn’t done so before. Niall wondered why the person had called him. He settled on the fact that maybe the person just wanted to piss someone off, and get a reaction. It worked.

Niall shoved his phone back into his pocket, looking up to see Zayn. Except Zayn wasn’t there. Niall suddenly felt panicked. What if this was the bad thing? What if someone had taken Zayn? Anything could have happened, and that was what scared Niall the most.

Niall turned around. Maybe this was a joke, and Zayn was hiding from him. That was the type of banter the boys got up to, however annoying it was. Or Zayn could’ve gotten bored. He might’ve left because that call had taken awhile to finish, and left to go find something to do. He’ll come back again, thought Niall.

Niall left the room, listening for the familiar voice of his best mate. But nothing. Not being one to give up, Niall went on with his search. 

Coming upon Louis’ shared room, he heard the hushed voice of Harry. Not really that unusual, those two boys were very close. The hushed voices weren’t much of a surprise either, most of the time the boys could be found planning something. But what wasn’t normal was the urgency in their tones.

Niall couldn’t exactly hear what the boys were saying; in fact he had no idea. But he wanted to know. But it might be private, thought Niall. It might not be any of his business. But Niall was a very curious person, half the time he just can’t keep his nose out of things. He was just about to walk away, of course unwillingly, when he heard something. Zayn’s voice, it sounded like.

Niall was very happy at this discovery, nothing had happened to him. That feeling was probably something he ate. Not even bothering to knock, he barged in, much like he did when going into Zayn’s room. But this time he receives a very different reaction.

“Niall!” Zayn yells, anger evident in his voice.

“What are you doing? Learn to knock!” Louis yelled. For a outgoing person, he sure had a voice on him.

“Niall, his isn’t the time…” Harry says, possibly the nicest response yet.

All three boys were looking at Niall with angry expressions, except Harry. He just looked guilty. Niall was at a loss for words. These boys had never acted this way around him, not that he could remember. He started to turn and leave, but he still wanted to know one thing.

“Um, sorry…” he trailed off. “But what were you guys talking about?” he asked, pulling the puppy dog eyes. The three boys seemed angry, so Niall felt the puppy dog eyes were needed.

The boy’s expression softened. Nobody could resist Niall’s puppy dog eyes. Maybe except for Liam, but he would give in anyway. Zayn was the first to speak.

“Sorry Ni, we’re just a little stressed for the tour. Management said it was going to be a really big one,” Niall nodded understandingly. “We were just talking about the performance, and how we’re gonna act,” he said, smiling apologetically. Niall felt that this wasn’t very convincing. When they did talk about how they were going to act, it was all together or with Management.

“Yeah,” Louis said. He still sounded quite annoyed, but the look on his face said he was sorry.

“Um, I’ll go now,” Niall said, rushing out of the room. Yes, he was still very curious, but that seemed like a sensitive topic for the boys to talk about. He knew that wasn’t what the boys really were talking about, it was obvious.

Whatever they were talking about, it was a secret. A secret Niall so badly wanted to know.


	2. "Concert"

“Okay guys! This is gonna be our last song for the night, so I hope you enjoy it!” Harry yells into the microphone. The crowd only yelled louder, they were pumped for the show. Prior to the concert had already been forgotten by Niall, he had been engrossed by the show.  
To him, this had been the best one yet. The stage was set up amazingly, the fans were loud and as energetic as possible and he had sung all of his parts correctly. Everything was perfect, and not a single thing had gone wrong. The music started for one of their more recent singles; Live While We’re Young. It was the perfect song for the end of the perfect performance.

NIall moved towards the back of the stage, a large smile appearing on his face. He had been told, a long with the other boys, to move behind the band mate that was singing, so they could get their moment to shine. But sometimes they all just ignored that rule and did whatever they wanted to do. This was not one of those times.

The song ended far too quickly for Niall’s liking, but he still went off with the other boys. They all went off into their separate dressing rooms, and then they should be allowed to be together again. 

Niall’s feeling was gone, and he was glad. It had left him around the first song, so Niall felt it was just nerves. But that was strange, it had been at least a year since he felt like that. 

Niall was not going to wash off his makeup and get changed yet, he needed to do something first. He looked on the small dresser for his phone. It was exactly where he left it, of course. He picked it up, seeing if he had any missed calls. His face changed into a look of surprise.

Twelve missed calls. All from the same number, or so he thought. They were all private. Private like that dumb prank caller. Maybe it was the caller, Niall thought. It was a possibility.

But, really, twelve calls? Were they really that desperate to get in contact with him? Niall laughed to himself. He really wanted to contact him. Or taunt him. Whichever the boy actually felt like. But he thought it was pretty funny.

Before Niall had a chance to delete all the calls from his phone, Zayn burst into the room.”Shouldn’t you knock, Zayn?” Niall said, and turned back to what he was doing.

“No, Niall,” Zayn said, ignoring Niall’s words. “I wanted to say sorry-“

“It doesn’t matter.”

With that comment, Zayn frowned and left the room. Zayn knew that Niall was just being a drama queen about it, and it would blow over in the next couple hours. Niall wasn’t one that liked a fight. Zayn would just call later and apologise, Niall would have to accept. Or he hoped Niall would accept.

Niall waited for Zayn’s footsteps to fade away, and went back to his phone. Nothing. But this didn’t bother Niall at all, he wasn’t waiting for anything. He decided to go to Liam’s room, the only boy he was willing to talk to at the moment. 

He got to Liam’s room, seeing the boy putting a black jacket on.

“Oh, hey Niall. What’s up?” he asked.

“I think Zayn and Louis and Harry are keeping a secret from me…” Niall pouted.

“What do you mean?” Liam frowned.

“I was going to find Zayn when he left me and then I found him in Louis’ and Harry’s room whispering. When they saw me they stopped talking, and then told me to get out,” he explained. “Do you know if I did something?”

Liam’s face turned into one of sympathy, and opened his mouth to speak. “Niall, you know it’s not your fault, right? They’re probably just talking about something dumb,” he comforted, moving over to Niall to give him a hug.

Niall hugged Liam back, thinking that what he said may have been the case. They released from the hug at the same time. Niall gave Liam a weak smile, and asked “do you really think that?”

Liam smiled knowingly. Niall didn’t normally act like that, but it was very cute when he did.

Before he had a chance to answer, sirens started blaring outside. They were loud and repetative, sounding exactly like an ambulance. Liam looked outside, not seeing any vechicles, then turning back to Niall. His blue eyes were wide with fear, and his mouth was hanging open. Liam felt a pang of sympathy for the boy, and went over to him to calm him.

“It’s probably nothing, Niall,” Liam reassured the blue eyed boy. Niall never acted like this, unless he was getting claustrophobic, and that wasn’t very often.

“B-but…” he stuttered.

“Don’t worry about it, okay?”

“Y-yeah. I’ll be okay, I guess,” Niall muttered. He shook himself out of Liam’s arms, and went to sit down at the mirror. His reflection showed somebody, but not Niall. The person he saw in the the mirror was pale, and had red rimmed eyes. The person in the mirror wasn’t being strong. But Niall wanted to be.

So, he would be. He wiped at the tears that were threatening to form, and put on a brave face. He stood up and turned to face Liam. 

Before he said anything, he could hear yelling. Panicked yelling. It sounded like Paul, and some other people too. The yelling was getting quieter by the second, like the people were moving further away from them, right out the building. Without giving Liam a second look, he walked out of the room to find the noise. The blaring of the ambulance was still there, as loud as ever.

From the end of the hall, Paul emerged. He had a sad look on his face. When he saw Niall, and behind him Liam, he started walking quicker. He needed to tell them something. Something very important. 

Liam came further out the door, towards where Niall was standing. “What’s happened?” Liam asked.

“Come with me,” Paul quickly replied. He passed both boys, and made his way into a small meeting room. He took a seat, and so did Liam and Niall. “Did you two hear the ambulance?”

“Yeah…” Liam said nervously. He wasn’t sure if he wanted to know what happened or not.

“Well, just as the show finished, and you five were in your rooms, something happened to Zayn. We don’t exactly know what yet, but it has something to do with what he’s been eating.”

“What?” Niall asked, dumbfounded. He was sure Zayn had been eating properly He had been eating a good amount… he was sure…

“He just collapsed in his room. The paramedics haven’t done a full check yet, but we hope Zayn is going to be fine.” And with that, Paul left the two boys to think about it. Liam looked at Niall. He was taking this hard, but he was sure that the blond would be taking it harder.

Niall could barely think straight. He had tears in his eyes. So he was right, after all.


	3. "Hospital"

Zayn’s in the hospital.

This isn’t good.

He’s not okay.

This is all my fault.  
Only negative thoughts circled around in Niall’s mind. They pulled him closer in to a depressed state. He couldn’t even think straight. 

Hot tears were streaming down Niall’s eyes. He couldn’t think properly. He couldn’t breathe properly. This was the thing that was supposed to go wrong. And he had done nothing to stop it. All he had done was just mope around and blame it on nerves.

Stupid, stupid, he thought. 

But maybe if Niall let Zayn stay and say sorry, he wouldn’t be in that position. Niall would have been able to save Zayn. If only. 

But instead Niall just had to say no to Zayn, and make him leave. And then Zayn had to faint, or whatever the hell happened to him, while Niall didn’t even notice.

Next to Niall, Liam was starting to panic. Niall looked like he knew something about this, but he didn’t look like he wanted to share it. He was pale, just like when he came into Liam’s room. His eye’s were distant, staring off into space. His dark pupils were big, almost covering his blue irises. He looked in a state of panic.

Not that Liam didn’t care, he knew Zayn was going to be fine, but he was more worried for Niall. He draped an arm around Niall’s shoulder, and pulled him close. “You okay, Niall?” he said, mentally slapping himself at the stupid question.

But Niall didn’t respond. His breathe only got quicker and he was sweating a little. He looked almost scared. But scared for what? Zayn would be fine. “Niall…?” Liam frowned. He wasn’t answering, or even noticing that Liam was trying to talk to him. Maybe he should make Niall lie down?

He slid an arm under Niall’s arm, and helped him to his feet. At this time Niall was only a little capable of standing, he was still taking the news quite hard. Liam was supporting most of Niall’s weight, and basically dragging him along. He placed Niall on the carpeted floor, careful not to drop him.

Niall wanted to tell Liam he was fine, but he couldn’t. His throat was too dry. And he was scared that his voice would only come out as a whimper. All he really wanted to do at that moment was either go to sleep, and see Zayn.

Zayn. Tears were starting to form at the edges of Niall’s eyes. He was going through thise thoughts again. He knew they were true. But what he didn’t know was what had actually happened to Zayn. Yes, his eating habits had messed with him, but nobody actually noticed that Zayn wasn’t eating well. 

Liam or Niall hadn’t. But then again, maybe that’s what Louis, Harry and Zayn were talking about earlier? Niall thought. Hot tears wer still streaming down his face, but he didn’t care. Liam was just sitting there, making sure Niall was okay. 

He was trying to remain calm for Niall’s sake, he was worried for him. This must be what a panic attack is.

Niall was starting to feel tired. The worst of the panic was starting to wear off now, and it had left him tired. So he just closed his eyes, and tried to forget about Zayn. He tried to make himself comfortable on the hard floor, and fell into a light sleep.

Liam watched Niall as he tried to get comfortable. He didn’t want to help him, just let Niall think on his own. He saw Niall close his eyes, and then realised that Niall was trying to sleep.

Now Liam had some time to himself.

It’s not like he didn’t want to be the father of the group, he didn’t mind that much, but it was hard. Barely any of the other boys would pay attention to the schedules that were layed out for them, so Liam had to tell them when everything was. It just got annoying.

But now everyone seemed a little fragile from Zayn’s… incident, that Liam would probably have to do even more. He sighed. Sometimes this could get a little hard.

Just then, Niall’s phone went off, signaling that he had a text message.

Should he look at it? Liam pondered for a second, before grabbing Niall’s phone. He had a text message, from an unknown number. 

That was a little strange, Niall would normlly give his contacts a name.

But what was even stranger, was what the message said. Why won’t you pick up, baby? Niall had a girlfriend? A secret girlfriend? Liam was sure Niall had never mentioned a girlfriend before, not to him anyway.

Liam decided to reply for Niall.

Niall’s kind of sleeping now, he’ll be up soon :) - Liam

He typed out, careful not misspell anything. He wanted to see how the girl would react. Niall’s phone buzzed immediantly. The girl had replied already. Liam wasn’t even sure if the message had sent, she was that fast.

Well then wake him up, I have something important to tell him. She replied, almost rudely. She hadn’t even said hello.

But Liam didn’t really care. He shook Niall awake, and the boy woke up slowly. He blinked his blue eyes open, and leaned forward, resting on his elbows.

“What happened?” he asked, confused.

“Don’t you remember?” Didn’t the boy remember at all? Surely his sleep wasn’t that deep. “Well, it doesn’t matter. Your girlfriend wanted me to wake you up.”

Niall looked confused. He didn’t have a girlfriend, nor did he like anybody at the moment. “What are you talking about? I don’t have a girlfriend.”

“Well she texted me, wanna see?”

He nodded, taking the phone out of Liam’s hand. Niall skimmed over the messages, not really liking what he was seeing. “That’s not my girlfriend.”

“So you have a-“

“No. I don’t.”

Suddenly Niall’s eyes went misty. He had remembered what happened. “Did you hear anything about him?” he asked. Liam shook his head. He didn’t really want to say anything.

“Could we go and see him?” Niall asked, wiping away the tears in his eyes.

Liam smiled weakly. “Yeah, sure.”


	4. "Killed or Killer?"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much to the people who commented and to the people who gave me kudos! It means a lot :) x

The car ride was somewhat awkward. Nor Niall or Liam would talk to each other. They simply had nothing to talk about. But luckily for them, the hospital they were going too wasn’t very far. 

Liam despairingly wanted something to say, to take both of their minds of what had happened. But he couldn’t think of anything to say that would actually turn into a conversation. But on the other hand, Niall didn’t even want to talk at all. Sure, the silence was extremely awkward, but nothing Liam said would take his mind off Zayn.  
Niall was wondering why he even cared about him that much? Somewhere in his mind he knew Zayn was going to be fine, but he was still worrying. A lot.

Liam thought Niall cared about Zayn a lot. More than he did, more than most of the other boys did. But then again, Niall was a caring person. He could just be normal-worried.

The two boys pulled up at the hospital, surprised that their weren’t any fans crowding the entrance. The boys could walk in without any hassle, which would be convinient. They walked through the sliding doors, and headed for reception.

“Hi,” Liam greeted.

“Hello sir, do you need something?” the receptionest replied almost rudely.

“We’re here to see Zayn Malik. Which room is he in?” 

“Well, he’s in room 18, first floor,” she said boredly, getting back to her work.

The two boys left the woman to her work, and looked for an elevator. They saw one just ahead, and walked to it. Liam quickly pressed the ‘Up’ button, and looked at Niall. He didn’t look back at Liam, he was just staring at the entrance. Niall really didn’t want to talk now.

When the door opened, the two boys stepped inside. Neither said anything, neither even glanced at each other. The elevator ride seemed longer than it should have. The door creaked open, it was an old thing.

The two boys walked out and saw room 18 straight away, it was right on the other end of the hall. Liam led Niall into the room, where he saw Louis and Harry, with three doctors surronding them. Harry was sitting down on a small chair, his head in his hands. Louis was standing inbetween the doctors, looking, or rather talking to Zayn. He was fully awake already.

“Liam, Niall. Hey,” Louis turned to look at the boys who had just entered. Harry still didn’t budge.

“Hi,” Liam greeted. His full attention was on Zayn. “Is he okay now?” he asked, gesturing to Zayn. Louis nodded.

“He said he’s a bit qeasy, but he’ll be fine.”

Niall walked over to Harry, and placed a soft hand on his shoulder. “Hey Harry… what’s wrong?”

Harry slightly shifted in his seat and took his hands away from his face. He looked at Niall with read eyes and a flushed face. He shook his head. “Nothing.”

Niall didn’t believe him. It was obvious he was lying. “Are you sure?” he prodded.

“Yes. I’m fine,” he responded bitterly. Niall decided to leave him alone.

In front of him the doctors were talking to Zayn. He was being asked pointless questions, like what he was doing at the time and when he started feeling faint. But one question really made Niall listen. “When was the last time you ate something?” the female doctor asked. She jotted something down on her noteboard before Zayn actually answered.

“Um… well…” 

Niall knew the doctors knew that he wasn’t eating properly. He guessed they just wanted to get it out of him.

“Can you remember?” the doctor standing next to him asked. Niall moved a little closer. This was really interesting him. He couldn’t remember the last time Zayn ate either.

“N-no.” He was suddenly nervous. “I can’t.”

The three docters each wrote something down on their pads, and left without another word. He looked at Zayn. He was pulling the thin covers over him, with a sad look on his face. “Hi Zayn,” he said.

Zayn looked up to Niall, his eyes were tired and slightly glassy. “Hey.” 

“What happened? I remember you leaving the room and then…”

Zayn’s face softened. He knew what the Irish boy was thinking, and he knew what this was putting him through. “I’ll be fine. Nothing really bad happened. I’ll be fine,” he repeated.

Now Niall believed him. He was giving this too much attention. This would just pass over and they’d all forget about it. He smiled at Zayn, and sat down on his bed making sure not to sit on him. “Okay.”

The five boys were silent. There was nothing really to talk about. Niall moved awkwardly in his seat, and saw three other boys do the same. The only boy that was not moving was Harry. He was just sitting in his seat, his head in his hands. He wasn’t crying, just blocking everything out.

Next to Niall, Zayn rolled over, facing away from Zayn. Niall looked at his steady breathing and light snores, coming to the obvious conclusion that he was sleeping. Niall smiled at him, Zayn would take any opportunity to sleep.

A minute of silence passed, and a nurse appeared at the door. She smiled at all the boys. “Hey boys, we’re going to run a couple short tests on Zayn. So if you wouldn’t mind, could you go to the waiting room?”

All the boys stood up, but Harry wasn’t listening. Niall went over to him, and put a hand on his back. “Haz, we’ve gotta leave Zayn for the moment.”

For a second he didn’t move. The he stood up slowly, and walked alongside Niall to the waiting room. 

There was nobody else in the room, but this time the boys made an effort to talk to eachother. Louis and Liam could see what this was doing to both Harry and Niall.

Before anyone knew it, an hour was up. And nobody had heard anything from the nurse.

“Did anyone know how long Zayn was gonna be?” Harry asked. It was the first few words he had spoken all night.

“Nah, she didn’t say,” Louis responded, giving Harry a warm smile.

As soon as Louis stopped talking, Niall got a call. His ringtone was loud, and almost scared the other boys. He grabbed his phone out of his pocket as the others watched him. He looked at the ID. Great. It was that dumbass caller. Niall had nothing better to do, so he answered.

“What?” he spat.

“Oh, I was just wondering if you heard the news?” he sing-songed.

“No. Tell me,” he rudely said. But Niall didn’t really care.

“Ohhh, feisty are we?”

“Whatever. Tell me.” The four other boys were looking intently at Niall now, wondering who was calling him and why he was being so rude.

“Oh, just the news of Zayn's death?” Niall froze. Zayn was not dead. He was as alive as anybody. “Or should I say Zayn’s murder?”

No, Niall thought. He hung up his phone and threw it to the floor. “Niall what’s wrong? You look like you’ve just seen a ghost…?” Just as Louis finished his sentence, a scream came from the direction of Zayn’s room. All the boys snapped their heads towards the sound.

“Who the hell was that?” Liam was the first to respond.

“Was that coming from Zayn’s room?” questioned Louis.

Harry said nothing. But Niall knew exactly what was happening.

A crying nurse ran into the waiting room. She was completely white and her eyes were wide. Tears stained her cheeks and she was frantic. “H-he… stabbed… blood… e-everywhere…” and she collapsed onto the floor. The nurse was the boys last thought.

“What?”

“Zayn? Is he okay?”

“Did Zayn stab someone?”

Niall had already disappeared down the hall. He ran to room 18, expecting to see a bloody Zayn laying on the bed, pale and… dead. But what he saw surprised him. Nothing. There was nobody in the room. The bed was made, all perfect and it looked like nobody was ever in there.

But there was a note pinned to the middle of the bed, the only thing different. He walked over to it cautiously, it could be a trap. He unpinned the note, and brought it up to read it with shaking hands. It read You should talk to me more often! We could be really good friends!

Three boys appeared behind him. Liam walked over to him, looking around. “Niall… what happened? Are you okay? What does that note say?”

Niall didn’t move. He was frozen. Zayn. Dead. No more Zayn. And it was all this callers fault. He had killed Zayn. The next thing Niall saw was black.


	5. "Nightmares"

Louis, Liam, Niall and Harry were finally going home. They could barely even think; their minds were clouded with Zayn. Zayn. He was murdered; the police had come to investigate. They did whatever they had to do, and told the hospital what had happened in great detail. It seemed almost unreal.

Zayn had finished all of his tests, with great results. He had not had been consuming the right amount of nutrients to be healthy, which is why he was so tired. He was going to be able to leave the hospital when he was ready, and he would be given some medicine to take daily. And he would have to eat proper food.

The nurse and doctor were going to go and tell Zayn all of this, and they had found him. He was bloody, pale and lifeless; as they had described him. They had noted that his eyes were red and open, and it looked like there had been a struggle.

The nurse and doctor were frozen. The nurse was the first to leave, she ran down the hall in a panicked frenzy. Then the doctor snapped back into reality, and went to call the police. When Niall had come, the beds were made and clean. The police never figured that part out.

The boys were very shaken up about this. It was a murder. But the boys had no enemies, except for the obvious haters. But most of them had no control over the lives of Zayn. They could tell his he was horrid all they could, but they had no reason to kill him.

The boys pulled up at Harry’s house, they didn’t want to be separated at this time. They knew they couldn’t handle it.

Harry had rooms for each of the boys. He was always ready to accommodate them, he liked having the boys over. Hence the four extra beds. But only three would be occupied tonight.

They all went in to the house, and Harry silently showed them their rooms.

Niall was the last to be shown. He slumped on his bed, and climbed under the covers. It was only eight, but Niall was tired. For once he wasn’t hungry. He wrapped himself into the covers, and shed a tear. He didn’t want Zayn to be dead. Zayn, his best friend. He had loved Zayn so, so much. They were the best of friends. And they could have been more if it wasn’t for that caller…

There was a quiet knock on the door. Harry walked in, and shook Niall’s shoulder.

“Niall… wake up…” he said in a timid voice. Niall knew he was broken. He rolled over and looked to Harry.

“Yeah?”

“We don’t have to do the tour anymore… and there’s a six month break for us…” he started to tear up. “Because of… you know…” Now Harry was fully crying. He made no attempt to stop it though. “Sorry…” he muttered, and started to walk away.

Niall’s eyes widened.

“No! Harry, stay.” He patted the spot next to him, and Harry came over. He sat next to Niall, crossed his legs and looked down. “Are you okay, mate?”

Harry looked to Niall in bewilderment. “Of course I’m not okay! Zayn’s dead! Gone! Never coming back!” His voice broke on the last word, and his anger was replaced with sadness. “Sorry…”

Niall shook his head and wrapped his arms around Harry in a tight hug. He hugged back, and leaned on Niall slightly.

“I’m sorry… it’s just… he’s not… coming back…”

“I know Harry… I know…”

Harry put his head on Niall’s shoulder and cried. He cried for a long time. He cried until he had no more tears left. The whole time Niall was whispering sweet things into Harry’s ear. Things they both wanted to believe terribly.

Harry lifted his head from Niall’s shoulder. His face was red, and his eyes were red and puffy. He looked so sad and pitiful. Niall gave him one last hug before Harry decided to speak up.

“Sorry…” he said for at least the third time today.

“Don’t be sorry, it’s fine,” he smiled to Harry. He was in a very sensitive place. They both were. Their best friend was gone. Harry sniffed loudly.

“I think I’m gonna go now. Thanks for being there… Love you.” Harry had been getting into the habit of saying ‘love you’ at any time. It was very cute to say the least.

“Okay, bye. See you in the morning?” he said, but it sounded more like a question.

“Yeah… night…” His tone went back to miserable, and he left and closed the door.

Niall got back into bed, and got comfortable. He didn’t feel as sad as before, but there was something empty inside of him. He felt as if it could never be filled. It probably never would.

He heard a sound, it was his phone. Niall sat up and blinked sleepily. He reached for the side table and felt around for his phone. “Hello?” he asked.

“Hi!” he said in a happy, singsong voice.

“What? I’m trying to sleep.”

“Oh I just wanted to see how you’re going… you know, with the whole Zayn is dead thing?”

Niall wasn’t sure if he was angry or sad. That dumbass caller had mentioned Zayn. How would he have known? I had only happened today. Nobody knew. Only the boys knew. Nobody was supposed to know.

Niall hung up the phone, and slammed it down on the table. He was now shaking with fear. He didn’t want to be scared, but he was. His carefree demeanour was now replaced by a miserable, anxious and irritable person that wasn’t him.

He closed his eyes, and tried to get to sleep. He was tired, exhausted even, but he couldn’t seem to drift off to sleep.

But before he knew it, sleep was overtaking him and his eyes blinked closed.

They were at the hospital, in the waiting room. It had been a long time, and the four boys were bored and worried as hell. The whole time Liam had been tapping his foot impatiently, and Louis had been staring at him irritably. Harry had said much, and Niall was just thinking.

Liam was tapping his foot harder and louder. He was creating a rhythm. A rhythm Niall was getting stuck in his head.

The nurse walked into the room, calm as ever. She had a happy smile on her face. She looked around to all the boys.

“Hello, boys. I just wanted to say that you could come in and see Zayn now, he’s fine.”

Niall looked to the nurse in happiness. The boys were almost tripping over each other to get to the room where Zayn was staying.

He was in the bed, sleeping and untouched. Niall didn’t know why he was so happy. All the boys were. Louis was first to go up to Zayn, and gave him a big hug, that woke him up. He blinked his open, confused. 

“Hey guys. W-what happened?”

“You fainted on stage, but you’re fine now!” Harry almost yelled. He was ecstatic.

“Oh, did I? I can’t remember,” he laughed. Niall was so happy. He didn’t know why, but this seemed too good to be true. Almost like a dream.

The nurse popped her head in, and gave everyone a kind smile. 

“Hi again boys, Zayn is ready to go home whenever he wants.”

Zayn and the rest of the boys grinned. Very quickly he was ready, and they were all set to go. But as they were walking, Zayn was a little shaky. Nobody noticed, though.

They were walking down the street casually, as the boys joked and laughed like old times, as if that never happened. But when Niall looked at Zayn, he noticed something. Zayn was bleeding. There was blood all over his face. There were only slight patches of his skin that wasn’t covered in red. Blood was gushing from his eyes, and mouth and nose.

He was staggering around as if he were drunk, but he was still laughing with the boys. He wasn’t walking as fast as the rest. Niall was scared. He didn’t know what to do.

“Zayn! You’re bleeding!” he yelled.

Zayn looked at him with red eyes. They looked like they were melting; only the dark red socket remained. His hair was drooping, and he looked more like a corpse than anything.

Niall was now screaming loudly. He was scared and nobody saw what was happening to Zayn.

Zayn was now sliding to the ground. His skin was going wrinkly and dark grey, some disappearing leaving only bone and bloody muscle. His shirt had disappeared, but it was nothing to ogle over. Guts and intestines were spilling out of his middle, blood pooling on the ground.

Niall fell on the ground. He backed away from the pool of blood. He yelled and screamed as the body came closer, Zayn’s, no actually, its arms dragging it closer to Niall.

Its mouth was gaping open, and it appeared to be making some kind of noise. Almost speaking to him.

“N-Niall… h-h-help meeeee,” Zayn, or it, drawled, and dropped to the ground.

Niall woke up with tears staining his cheeks. What the hell just happened? That was scary. That was a nightmare.


	6. "Caller"

Niall spooned another bit of cereal into his mouth. Him, and the three other boys were having breakfast together. It was one of the first activities they had done where they were all talking and having fun, trying to keep their minds off Zayn.

“So what are we going to do?” Liam suddenly piped up.

“I don’t think we can do what we do anymore…” Harry said.

“We’re not One Direction without Zayn,” Louis said bluntly.

Nobody said anything after that. All the boys seemed to have lost their appetite. Niall pushed the half empty bowl of cereal away from him, and sipped on his glass of water. He stood up, grabbing his dishes and went to clean them. Liam and Harry did the same, and Louis was left at the table.

“So, Niall,” Liam said. “How’s that girlfriend of yours?”

Niall looked to Liam in surprise. Harry laughed and Louis snorted.

“Yeah, right,” Louis disagreed.

“Really, Niall? What’s her name?” Harry grinned.

“She was texting him a couple days ago,” Liam informed. Harry and Louis chuckled, while Niall looked on in confusion.

“Nah, I haven’t!” he protested.

All the boys laughed. They didn’t believe Niall. They all wanted Niall to be happy and find a girl, and now, in their own way, they were finding out about her.

“I’m sure you do,” Liam grinned.

“Aw, come on Niall! Show us the texts!” Harry yelled to Niall.

Niall shook his head in disagreement. “Nah!”

“Yeah! Please?” Louis begged.

Niall’s face turned grave. If he showed them the texts, they would know about the caller. But what would they think? Would they be happy that he told them? Or would they be angry he didn’t? Niall ran through all the possible reactions his friends would have, when Louis snapped him back.

“Come on Niall! I don’t wanna beg here,” Louis said.

“Okay, fine, fine.” The boys all cheered. “But it’s not from my girlfriend.”

He pulled out his ever present phone and flipped to the texts. He had at least 20 more that he hadn’t read. He was about to hand his phone to Harry when he realised something. He would have to tell them. He walked to the living room, gesturing for the boys to follow.

They followed obediently.

Niall sat down on the couch with his phone still in his hand. The boys watched Niall with interest, and didn’t dare make a noise. They had a feeling that Niall didn’t have a girlfriend.

“So, um, just before the concert a couple days ago…” he started. “And I got a call. It was from a blocked number, so I couldn’t call or text back.”

“Who was it?” Harry interrupted, like a child.

“Shut it, Harry.” Louis nudged Harry hard.

“I don’t know who it was… But they were really annoying and I think it was a prank.”

“So? What does a prank have to do with this girlfriend of yours?” Harry once again interrupted.

“Well this person kept texting me and calling me… And just before Zayn, um… the nurse came into the room, I got a call from him.”

“So it’s a guy?” Louis raised an eyebrow.

“Yeah. He told me that Zayn was gonna, um, you know… he told me that Zayn was gonna die and after that he called me again and asked me how I was going and it was all terrible and-“

“You mean that you could have stopped them killing Zayn?” Harry screeched. He was now standing up and pointing at Niall. “If you had told us he wouldn’t be dead!”

Harry ran out of the room, most likely to his bedroom. Louis shot Niall a sympathetic look and ran after Harry.

Niall had his head down and he felt like dying. Harry was right. If he had just told someone, then this whole thing could have been avoided. He was an idiot for not telling them.

Niall looked to Liam. Liam did not look unhappy, nor did he look defeated or betrayed. Liam looked like normal, except for the kind smile that usually occupied his face. He moved closer to Niall on the couch and looked at him with big brown eyes. Like a puppy, Niall thought.

“Niall? You okay?”

“Yeah… It’s just that if I had told someone Zayn would still be here…”

“No, it’s fine. You didn’t know. At all. It’s fine,” he repeated.

“I just want to know who they are and why they’d do something like this. It really bugs me.”

Liam’s eyes glazed with something Niall had never seen in Liam before. “Don’t worry Niall, we’ll find this caller whatever it takes.”


End file.
